Neurología : publicación oficial de la Sociedad Española de Neurología
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Neuropathic pain is a condition affecting a significant proportion of the world's population. Many therapeutic drugs have been used. They achieve less than satisfactory results and are associated to common side effects that affect the daily life of patients. ⋯ In clinical trials, pregabalin has been shown to be effective in postherpetic neuralgia and painful diabetic neuropathy at doses ranging from 150-600 mg/day. The analgesic effects of pregabalin occur in the first few days of treatment and are sustained over time. Side effects are few; most are transient and well-tolerated by patients, and the treatment discontinuation rate is minimal.
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Sneeze is an ubiquitous phenomenon that happens to everyone. In spite of this, little attention has been paid to it, among medical literature in general, and even less in neurologic texts. ⋯ It is usually ignored by its sufferers, who report it as a curiosity or a minor complaint, and its importance has been neglected in spite of its hereditary nature and its apparently high prevalence. We review the history, epidemiology, genetics, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology and physiopathology of this reflex hereditary response.
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Cysticercosis occurs when humans become intermediate hosts of Taenia solium after ingesting its eggs. It is the most common helminthic infection of the nervous system, and is endemic in Latin America, Asia and Africa, as well as in industrialized nations with a high immigrant influx of people coming from endemic areas. Neurocysticercosis is a pleomorphic disease due to individual differences in the number and location of the parasites within the nervous system as well as to differences in the severity of the host's immune reaction against the parasite. ⋯ Cysticidal drugs (albendazole and praziquantel) have improved the prognosis of this condition. However, some patients have torpid clinical courses despite therapy. Surgery plays an important role in the management of some forms of the disease, particularly hydrocephalus and intraventricular cysts.
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Case Reports
Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy: clinical description and demonstration of the causal agent.
A 40 year old man with AIDS had memory deficit and visual impairment. The brain magnetic resonance images showed abnormalities in the white matter not enhanced with gadolinium. ⋯ Histologic examination showed changes compatible with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. Polyoma virus etiology was confirmed by immunostaining of brain tissue sections and electron microscopy of infected oligodendrocytes.
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Neuropathic pain is defined as a pain initiated or caused by a lesion or dysfunction in the nervous system. The objectives of the study were to estimate the prevalence and incidence of neuropathic pain in hospital neurology units and primary care centres, to characterize the clinical profile of the patient with neuropathic pain and to know the most frequent treatments in the pharmacological management of this type of pain. ⋯ The data obtained indicate that neuropathic pain is the eighth more frequent diagnosis in the neurology units. Medical assistance request by neuropathic pain is higher in the hospital units.